It was tough luck for the Philippines in triathlon on the morning of the Asian Youth Games opening ceremony, as Euan Arrow Ramos crashed out of the competition on Thursday at Sofitel Bahrain.
Ramos suffered scratches and bruises all over, including his right arm and leg, after hitting the deck when his wheel clipped a cateye on a tight turn in the race featuring 39 triathletes. The 15-year-old came out of the water in ninth place and had closed in on the leaders during the bike stage when he apparently ran over a reflective road stud and crashed. He was later brought to Bahrain Defense Force Hospital.
The cones had to be moved after several incidents, which slightly altered the course, but Triathlon Association of the Philippines secretary general Ting Joson said they couldn’t blame the results on the adjustments.
‘It was unfortunate because Arrow was strong and the boys prepared well. It’s just unfortunate that there was a cat’s eye there,’ Joson said. ‘Even if they changed the course on the fly, it’s the officials’ prerogative if they feel that’s the safer way to do it.’
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‘As a technical official, if you see that an accident happened and you can prevent it from happening again, you have to make those calls,’ he added.
Adding to the Philippines’ woes, Peter Sancho del Rosario lost his 12th-place finish after being disqualified for an infraction at the second transition, when he removed his headgear before setting his bike on the rack.
China’s Li Yansong ruled the event in 27 minutes and 0.4 seconds, followed by Kazakhstan’s Ramazan Ainegov (27:11) and Korea’s Kang Woohyeon (27:13).